I’ve decided to give up meat for Lent. Granted, I barely eat any red meat as it is, but I do like chicken and turkey. This is not going to be easy, but giving up something you dislike beats the purpose.

There is a close tie between vegetarianism and Lent, acccording to Wikipedia:

There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance.

Fasting during Lent was more severe in ancient times than today. Socrates Scholasticus reports that in some places, all animal products were strictly forbidden, while others will permit fish, others permit fish and fowl, others prohibit fruit and eggs, and still others eat only bread. In some places, believers abstained from food for an entire day; others took only one meal each day, while others abstained from all food until 3 o’clock. In most places, however, the practice was to abstain from eating until the evening, when a small meal without vegetables or alcohol was eaten followed by a big fry with no eggs. Even now, the Orthodox Churches continue the practice of avoiding all animal products including fish, eggs, fowl and milk sourced from animals (e.g. goats and cows as opposed to the milk of soy beans and coconuts) for the entire fifty-five days of their Lent.

In current Western societies the practice is considerably relaxed, though in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches abstinence from the above-mentioned food products is still commonly practiced, meaning only vegetarian meals are consumed during this time in many Eastern countries.

Typically during Lent, Catholics don’t eat meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays. This year, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes, especially since I’m living with my parents. They eat meat and they don’t understand why anyone would want to be a vegetarian. After watching Food Inc. and reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I don’t know how people can’t! My mom made chicken for dinner so all I had for dinner was potatoes and peas since I wasn’t hungry enough to find something else to cook. Now I need to start planning my meals and cooking more, moving back in with the rents has made me lazy in the kitchen.

Any tips, books or sites I should check out? Would love to know as the number of books and blogs are so overwhelming. Also, are you giving anything up for Lent?

I’m once again a working girl. I’m working for a local agency doing PR. So far, so good. I’ve been there about two weeks and all my coworkers are really nice. That’s probably the extent of work that I will cover on the blog. : )

I will say, I am so happy that I’ve been able to stop job hunting. That is one thing about “fun”employment that I do not miss. And since Im employed, I now have money to pay for grad school. So, fingers crossed I get to start soon!

I also have health benefits again, so that’s a major plus. I went to the dentist today and all is well. Next up is the dermatologist. I never had any major acne problems as a teenager, but I do now. Drives. Me. Nuts. I’ve spent way too much money on skin care products that are not helping. Cannot wait till that appointment.

Half-marathon training has taken a backseat since there is about two feet of snow and ice on the sidewalks (and more coming tonight, yay!). But one of the benefits of a regular paycheck is being able to join a gym. Even though I hate the dreadmill, I need to get my runs in and I’m excited about spin classes and the like.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog and what direction I want to take it in. I think I want to rename it and redesign it, but have no idea where to start. The URL I want is taken, but I can add “blog” to the .com, so I’m going to think about it still.

We woke up to a record snowfall this morning! I believe it was about 21 inches and ranks in the top five record snowfalls for the area. Crazy stuff. Needless to say, I haven’t really left the house since I got home from work (yes, work!) yesterday. I took some pictures this morning and earlier this evening of all the snow.

So, lots of things have happened since my last post and I’ll write a longer update soon. Hope everyone is staying warm and safe!